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Sunday, February 14, 2016

Maegan's review of The Swan Bonnet by Katharine L. Holmes

Reviewed by -- Maegan
Schaefer

Book Review of – The
Swan Bonnet by Katharine L. Holmes

My overall star rating
– 3.5

About the book:

Unbeknown to Dawn, her
grandfather has shot an old swan out of mercy. In their coastal Alaskan town,
her father buys the swan pelt, preventing her Uncle Alex, a fur trader, from
selling it for export. Dawn’s father surprises her part-Aleut mother with a hat
she helped to make and also with an idea to catch poachers. Shooting swans has
become illegal but Alaska is a territory and Prohibition occupies the Sheriff.

Dawn and her mother
become involved with suspicious inquiries about the swan bonnet besides its
haunting effect. Because Dawn’s grandparents see the swans first, Dawn agrees
to secretly watch the migration with the deputy sheriff’s son. But after she
and her mother encounter women from a ship and find out about a hunting party,
they ride to the inlet. There are townspeople roving the shore too but who is
the vigilante and who is the poacher?

Book creation ratings:

Overall total -- 27
out of a possible 30

-- Story &
characters -- 8

-- Cover & title
-- 10

-- Editing -- 9

* based on a 1-10
scale with: 1-4, poor; 5-7, good; 8-10,
very good.*

My review:

The book started off
very slow for me. By the time I was 3/4 through, it picked up for me. I loved
how the book was detailed about how life was during the time when Alaska was a
territory. Some parts were confusing for me, they all were about the stories
told, flashbacks that happen to the older people in the book. I would lose
track of who was who and what happened when. I loved how Holmes describes the
Swans migration and the attachment the family had with them. I wish I could
have seen it in person. The history parts of the books were amazing. I enjoy
learning about the gold rush time period and how people survived in Alaska
during that time.